Being5.

Waiting in line outside of Nordstrom

Today was the third time that Janie’s met Santa.  Their first meeting was when she was three-months old.  He made a stop over at the mall in Bellingham and Janie, not yet being suspicious enough to be concerned about sitting on a stranger’s lap, sat calmly while her picture was taken.  The next year, at 16-months old, she looked up at Santa and screamed.  I still ordered the picture, had it framed, and take it out every Christmas with the rest of our decorations.  The next two years, at just over 2 years old and just over 3 years old, we strolled casually by Santa’s house and suggested that maybe she would want to go visit him, but Janie was adament that she didn’t want to and to avoid more childhood trauma than necessary, we skipped it.

This year, at just over 4-years old, Janie is very curious about Santa.  She knows he lives at the North Pole with his atlers (reindeer) and that he has elves.  Beyond that, there are many questions- How does he know where we live?  How does he know what to bring me?  Does he know that I like princesses?  Does he know Meg is a baby?  How does he get in the house?  Why does he leave the presents under the tree?  What does he eat for lunch?  Do his antlers get his lunch? 

Next in Line!

The four of us ventured downtown late this morning and after a quick lunch, got in the Santa line at Nordstrom.  Although the line didn’t look too long, we were informed that it would be about 2-1/2 hours to get to the front of the line and at 3pm, the current Santa would be replaced by “The Diversity Santa.”  Weird, but true.  And even weirder that the family in front of us decided to come back when Diversity Santa wouldn’t be there.  After a long two-hours of being hit in the ankles by the  stoller of the family behind us, switching Meg back and forth from Josh’s arms to mine and back again, and keeping Janie’s spirit, excitement, and courage up, we were rewarded with our visit with the big man himself.

Santa greeted Janie and Meg by name and they had a long, in depth conversation about what she wanted for Christmas (a yo-yo and a princess flashlight), what she was going to leave him for a snack (cookies for him and carrots for the antlers), if she’d been a good girl (yes) and what she does to help mommy and daddy around the house (everything).  It was a truely magical visit for Janie.

Meg on the other hand, is still a bit unsure. 

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